Our zombies are taking over the world

Media Design School’s zombie romance Rotting Hill is invading film festivals across the globe like an epidemic.

Media Design School’s zombie romance Rotting Hill is invading film festivals across the globe like an epidemic.

The short film has been selected for seven international festivals within the last month alone including Siggraph 2012 (Los Angeles), Prix Ars Electronica (Austria), Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Mile High Horror Film Festival (Colorado), Charlotte Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival (North Carolina), Telluride Horror Show (Colorado) and New Orleans Horror Film Festival.

“The film has also cracked one million views on Vimeo recently,” says director James Cunningham. “The enduring popularity of the film, more than a year after completion [in June 2011], is a credit to the talented cast and crew including the Media Design School students who handled the special effects, pre-production and helped out with filming on the day.”

Rotting Hill is a love story between two zombies played by Kiwi actress Anna Hutchison (Cabin in the Woods, Go Girls, Underbelly) and Australian actor Jason Smith (Home and Away, Legend of the Seeker) who fall in love amidst an apocalypse.

“I think deep down, we all want to love and be loved. Zombies used to be humans too, so I guess the idea behind the film is why would these emotions go away just because you’re a reanimated corpse?” says Cunningham.

Rotting Hill will receive another lease of life in coming months when the school launches an ambitious new digital marketing campaign in coming weeks. More information will be released on the campaign soon.